Well, I too am a pragmatist, and not a lawyer, so I guess like minds can think unlike.
I would agree with UF's take on Emulex, personally, but I think this is different. First of all, the design was clearly flawed (and afoul of laws designed to prevent confusing ballots). As someone who designs user interfaces for a living, I must say, this was a monstrous usability bug (as design guru Jakob Nielsen commented: "The Florida ballot clearly had usability problems, caused by the attempt to map a two-column set of labels onto a one-column action area.")
I simply loathe the term 'technicality' as it is commonly used in legal discussions--well, sure this violated the law, but that's just a technicality. The law is the law, and must be enforced fairly and faithfully. To suggest otherwise is to undermine the very underpinnings of our society. If you think the relevant law is lame, change the law.
Secondly, I don't think most people appreciate just how difficult this ballot was. In fact, many people who punched the Gore hole had serious problems with it--they just solved the puzzle eventually. First of all, when marking the ballot, they weren't looking at it at 90 degrees. It was sharply angled against them, and thus hard to see. Second of all, these were people who were used to voting the same way for decades (they were used to voting this way because florida law stipulates that it's the way ballots must be designed). Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, most people don't realize that there is a five-minute time-limit on filling out your ballot in Palm Beach county. There were plenty of referenda and other measures on the ballots--users had no choice but to rush through it. |
